I'll talk about the beadwork
first for those of you here just for that. The story that goes with
this piece is long. This piece is done in 11/0 seed beads in square
stitch. The same 3-D techniques described for the Ba were used in
making this piece.

This piece was modeled on one
of the surviving sphinxes found buried at Del el Bahri at
Hatshepsut's famous very beautiful mortuary temple. It is one of the
few instances of a sphinx bearing a female face in Egyptian art. I
actually tired to make the facial features resemble her remaining
staues. if you look at the Ba, you can see how her face is different.
Many of Hatshepsut's statues did not survive because her nephew
Thutmoses III destroyed them after her death because he hated her
probably. Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmoses I, and the Great
Royal Wife of her half-brother Thutmoses II. Ancient Egypt was a
matrilineal society and the pharaoh's ka was transmitted by the royal
daughters . For this reason pharaohs often married their sister and
daughters. Hatshepsut was the bearer of the blood since her mother
was the royal daughter of Ahmose, and Thutmoses II's mother was just
a member of pharaoh's harem. When Hatshepsut's spouse died leaving
only an infant son as heir (again his mother was only a member of the
harem not a royal daughter), Hatshepsut was declared regent. She
decided to declare herself pharaoh after a short time (Why take a
back seat?). Thutmoses III had to wait till she died to ascend the
throne and evidentally bore a grudge. He had her name chiseled out of
monuments and her statues as pharaoh destroyed. He was not above
taking her daughter ( this is not certain, but after Hatshepsut who
but her daughter would bear her name?) Hatshepsut-Mertyre as great
Royal Wife. Through her Hatshepsut became the grandmother of the
great pharaoh Amenhotep II.